Green Job Hiring is Disappointment at Sunset Reservoir

By William Chadwick
May 17, 2010
When San Francisco’s Sunset Reservoir solar project is completed later this year it will be one of the largest solar installations of its kind in the country. The project, a 5-megawatt sea of 25,000 solar panels in San Francisco’s Sunset District, was approved in June after a revised commitment from the developer, Recurrent Energy, to hire no less than 21 workers from San Francisco’s most economically disadvantaged communities; 30 percent of the project’s workforce.
However, with the number of workers from this demographic firmly stuck at 7 (with some of those employed feeling marginalized), and media reports claiming that an increasing share of work for the electricians’ union, Local 6, has blocked opportunities for low-income San Franciscans in the laborers’ union, Local 261, Supervisor Eric Mar called a hearing last week to investigate the status of the hiring practices at the Reservoir.
The importance of an increased investment in renewable energy accompanied with the promise of green jobs opportunities for qualified economically disadvantaged people from targeted communities, originally earned support from Supervisor Mar as well as a host of national and local environmental groups, including Green for All, the Sierra Club, and the Ella Baker Center for Human Rights.
Mar’s decision to oppose his colleagues on the Board of Supervisors who were asking for more time to assess the Recurrent Energy bid properly and see if it really was the best deal for taxpayers, led some to question his political nous. But there was a lot of pressure from non-governmental groups to push the deal through, and quickly. (It turns out that construction only began in March, meaning that there was time to further improve the terms of deal for the city as well as tie off any loose ends in workforce hiring provisions).